00                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 25                                                                     
01 Supporting Alaska's independent commercial fishermen and Alaska's fish processing                                       
02 industry and opposing the establishment of processor quota shares.                                                      
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature supports the commercial fishermen of                                       
05 Alaska, who are the lifeblood of our coastal communities and who provide economic                                       
06 opportunity and diversity for our coastal communities; and                                                              
07       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature supports the Alaska fish processing industry                               
08 which provides investment in the state and is the largest employment base in many Alaska                                
09 coastal communities; and                                                                                                
10       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature recognizes that commercial fishing is and                                  
11 will remain the predominant economic base for the majority of our coastal communities; and                              
12       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature supports the free enterprise system; and                                   
13       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature recognizes that federal fishery management                                 
14 in the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States can have dramatic effects on                               
15 the economic growth and stability of Alaska coastal communities; and                                                    
16       WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has proposed a                                             
01 rationalization plan for management of the crab stocks in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands                           
02 area and is currently developing a rationalization plan for the Gulf of Alaska groundfish                               
03 stocks; and                                                                                                             
04       WHEREAS the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab plan incorporates processor                                    
05 quota shares, which designate that 90 percent of the fishermen's catch must be sold to                                  
06 designated processors; and                                                                                              
07       WHEREAS the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's recommendation for                                       
08 processor control of a fishery is unprecedented in the United States; and                                               
09       WHEREAS processor quota shares limit a fisherman's ability to sell to any other                                 
10 market by reducing or eliminating competition among processors; and                                                     
11       WHEREAS processors who are not granted processor quota shares will be placed at a                               
12 serious competitive disadvantage and may discontinue all processing business affecting other                            
13 fisheries including salmon;                                                                                             
14       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports healthy relationships                                 
15 between fisherman, processors, and Alaska coastal communities that strengthen the                                       
16 commercial fishing industry and the free enterprise system; and be it                                                   
17       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the North Pacific                                    
18 Fishery Management Council's proposal to establish processor quota shares.                                              
19       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Don Evans, United States                               
20 Secretary of Commerce; to each member of the United States Senate Committee on                                          
21 Commerce, Science and Transportation; to each member of the United States House of                                      
22 Representatives Committee on Resources; to each member of the North Pacific Fishery                                     
23 Management Council; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski,                                  
24 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
25 delegation in Congress.